Reproduction of source materials used in the PhD thesis Maximilianus Hell (1720-1792) and the Eighteenth-Century Transits of Venus: A study of Jesuit Science in Nordic and Central European Contexts

Utgravningene av totalt elleve lokaliteter på Skarpeneset i 2008, med et begrenset tillegg i 2009, avdekket overraskende fire store, rektangulære tufter, mer eller mindre nedgravde i bakken, på to av lokalitetene. Tuftene er datert samlet til 7000 – 6500/6400 f.Kr. Det foreslås at de er rester etter hus med parvis skråstilte, takbærende stolper, uten markerte ildsteder og med minst to åpninger/innganger. ...

In the years 1768-1770 an expedition lead by the Austrian/Hungarian astronomer and Jesuit Father Maximilian Hell travelled to Vardø in the northernmost part of Norway. The main objective of the expedition was to observe the transit of Venus in June 1769. However, scientific investigations in several other fields were also performed, among them observations of the magnetic declination. From the ...

How are we, as historians of science, to deal with the history of scientific expeditions whose aims and scope covered multiple branches of research? Should we content ourselves to study the underlying, socio-political contexts motivating the expeditions, and give examples of what impression the local population, the nature, climate, etc. of the region made on the visiting scientists? Or should we ...